[cjnigesh]

Hello Team-BHPians,

Please let me thank you and much appreciated for this wonderful opportunity. I Nigesh, born in Coimbatore and grew up in Thrissur. Working as a QC Auditor for an American MNC in Afghanistan since 2009.

A passion in motoring, which has considerably intensified by gaining more knowledge through reading ‘Team-BHP’ on a daily basis since 2012, for as long as I could remember. It has all started while I was casually searching for reviews and ownership experience of Duke 200. For me, ‘Team-BHP’ is a university where you do not ever want the course of study come to an end. Honestly, it’s the meditation especially where am I now having a robotic life within a controlled environment. Therefore, sadly my actual road exploring has been very limited for the last decade. Learned to ride and drive very early and obtained the license exactly at the age of ‘18’as motoring was more of a necessity than a passion, in order to win the bread for the family back in the days.

Uncle’s Vijay Super was my first riding partner and ridden countless number of commuter bikes and scooters owned by employers due to my part time and full time daily wages jobs, . Then I bought my first ride; a humble ‘LML Vespa’ for 6000 INR and had to sell it within a couple of years. As aforementioned, driving has become an integral part of my life and played the roles of an auto rickshaw driver, taxicabs and commercial goods vehicles/trucks.

Upon returning from Kuwait in 2008, I bought a ‘Piaggio ape extra ld’ goods auto and during one of my trips to Thrissur, I found my first motorcycle a ‘Suzuki Samurai AKA No Problem Bike’ for merely 1500 INR exchanged for my trip bill. In this case it had only problems and collected the pieces loaded in to my ‘ape’ restored it back to life for a hefty 12000 INR, please don’t get me wrong as I loved the entire process wholeheartedly. I gifted it to one of my friend for free when I left home for Afghanistan. Then started the long wait till January 17th 2013, and finally I bought my first ever brand new motorcycle ‘KTM Duke 200’ and ridden on the very same day to Bangalore for break in the engine and returned via Mysore due to very limited number of vacation days, thus clocked my first ever long ride. Enjoyed it thoroughly with a club named ‘DOC’ and did a lot of group rides up until I sold it in 2016. Now I owned a 2010 RE Bullet Standard 2010 (CI engine) and ride it whenever I could for short and long rides. Apart from that, I have a 2006 Santro and a Suzuki Access 125 (for the better half) within the garage.

My Wish list includes of a ‘Versys 650’ if the budget permits, and or I would go ahead and get a ‘RE Himalayan’, only if the FI version comes with ABS and niggle free in the near future! ‘RE Interceptor 650 INT’ pictures are tempting and has started forcing me to sell the ‘CI Bullet’ but will wait and see. I am also wish to buy the following cars depending on budget as always; ‘VW Vento TDI MT’, ‘Skoda Rapid TDI MT’, ‘Ford Ecosport – Titanium+’, ‘VW Polo GT TDI’ and ‘Ford Figo Sports TDI’.

But it seems like, I will end up buying a ‘Platinum Etios’ most likely, LOL. Now comes the hard part of convincing the family as I want the ‘Etios Petrol’ only! I know it’s quite long for an introduction but couldn’t help my sense of excitement and pride. Looking forward to my BHP days and wish you all happy motoring. Once again thank you for reading.

[V.Narayan]

Nigesh, welcome to the fold. I would be most interested to know more about life in Afghanistan and your experience of many years living in that unique country.

[RavenAvi]

Welcome to the forums, Nigesh.

Biking & performance enthusiast - you will fit in nicely. Eager to hear why you would finalise the Etios petrol over the excellent, explosive diesels in your wishlist.

How is life in Afghanistan? One country which has been in the news for all the wrong reasons mostly. Is there an aspect to the place which is different than what the media portrays?

Enjoy your times in here.

[ACM]

Wow, that's a journey. You have spent a considerable amount of time in not one but two war torn countries.

You seem to be a RE loyalist. They have some interesting bikes lined up in the coming two years. Adventure touring hmmm.

I guess the thought of the Himalayan comes from the Afghan terrain.

Welcome.

[cjnigesh]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Nigesh, welcome to the fold. I would be most interested to know more about life in Afghanistan and your experience of many years living in that unique country.

Thank you sir,

Although I’ve never been to US, the life here is pretty much identical to an American city but not quite the same! Confusing isn’t?

To simply put, these military bases are considered as different planets full of soldiers, machines and civilians from different parts of the world that are living together a robotic life 24/7 while being located at an active war zone! And for an enthusiast (motoring, technology and adventure), this is ‘just another day in paradise’ as we sighs each other instead of saying ‘I am fine’ as were on the other side of the world (real world). It’s unreal for everyone else who lives outside these wires.

1.) For some, it’s part of their work and life
2.) And for the rest, it’s essential to survive and support the family back home

Good altitude - Super-Hot - Crazy Cold – Windy – Dusty - Countless number of huge diesel generators – Man-made Birds, SUVs, MUVs, ATVs, Trucks, of all types, sizes and specs and whole lots of fuel etc. I was fortunate enough to experience some of the very exclusive rides as part of my work missions and to witness these unique rides passing through on a daily basis here in Afghanistan would surprise the eyes. I can’t vouch for others here for the same feeling. LOL

Other than the job, salary, facilities and the aforementioned the life is not great at all. But the life here and or in any other war zones will certainly changes your life top to bottom. He and or she will start seeing the world in whole new aspect for sure. Once again thank you for reading.

Unfortunately I can’t go more in details, hope you understand.

[Jeroen]

Welcome to the forum Nigesh.
Amazing experience in Afghanistan.

You should find plenty of interest on the various forums, enjoy and welcome!

Jeroen

[cjnigesh]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

Welcome to the forums, Nigesh.

Biking & performance enthusiast - you will fit in nicely. Eager to hear why you would finalise the Etios petrol over the excellent, explosive diesels in your wishlist.

How is life in Afghanistan? One country which has been in the news for all the wrong reasons mostly. Is there an aspect to the place which is different than what the media portrays?

Enjoy your times in here.

Thank you sir,

First of all I have very limited knowledge when it comes to automobiles. And I never drove any of the cars mentioned within my wish list yet!

The VW Vento, Polo GT & Skoda Rapid: Everything is superb except the after sale service & cost of ownership, Space only for 4 & Turning radius

Ford Ecosport: Budget of 10K, Space only for 4, Impractical boot gate at least for me, Blind spots, Still a hatch back alike, Same engine is available in lesser Figo with some extra torque & Turning Radius.

Figo Sports: Lack of space and headroom, confused b/w 2 and 4 airbags for the same money & lighter build quality compared to the others.

Now finally the Platinum Etios Petrol or we may call it a Compromise

Practicality is what an average Indian family man expect in reality when it comes to cars at the least, especially when he could most probably buy and afford only one at a time. Etios comes with more than enough space, 4 star safety rating, great after sale service, ‘OK’ handling, comfort, good torque delivery from low rpms offers good drive-ability, great refinement compared to the diesel, good turning radius for me and lastly the Toyota's reliability.

Why naturally aspirated Petrol Engine?

My usage won’t exceed more than 5000 km per year
Easier maintenance
Higher reliability
Direct throttle response
No intention for tuning
Less borrowers in family for my car being a petrol version! LOL

That being said, I have 7 more months to do the math and finalize!

Source of knowledge: Team-BHP

As I have mentioned to V.Narayan,, life is tactical here. Everything that the media reports mostly happens outside the wires. Most of the time we become aware of the same news through the family members and friends back from India and middle east. As far as I know, nothing leaks out of a base to medias other than to official military publishers.

Thank you for reading

Originally Posted by ACM

Wow, that's a journey. You have spent a considerable amount of time in not one but two war torn countries.

Yes sir, specifically 12 years and running.

You seem to be a RE loyalist. They have some interesting bikes lined up in the coming two years. Adventure touring hmmm.

Not really a loyalist but I appreciate their very late but different approach to cope up with the current trend and bringing more bigger capacity twin cylinder bikes. Thanks to their CEO. I love all no nonsense practical motorcycles regardless of the brands.

I guess the thought of the Himalayan comes from the Afghan terrain.

We do not have motorcycles here unfortunately! I happened to test ride the FI version of Himalayan during my last vacation and came back very impressed. I do agree that it has to have few more ponies and ABS, but still manageable for my needs.

Welcome.

Thank you and looking forward my Team-BHP days.

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Welcome to the forum Nigesh.

Thank you sir

Amazing experience in Afghanistan.

Indeed

You should find plenty of interest on the various forums, enjoy and welcome!

Jeroen

Yes, I am looking forward to the future. Thank you


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[Thad E Ginathom]

Hello cjnigesh, and welcome to full-blown membership after so many years of friendship with the forum!

On multiquoting, the button that looks like ["] is your friend. Just click it on each post you want to quote from (it turns red) and then hit the [Reply] button at the end of the page, just above the Quick reply box.

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(Been hanging around on this, and another same-software-base, forum, for far too many hours a day out the past dozen years!)

[CaptainPrice]

Welcome to the forum Nigesh!

Your journeys and experiences definitely seem interesting. I really like that you bought an Auto rickshaw while many people in the world are buying Automatics. The knowledge you have gained with bikes will definitely be valuable for us all and we hope to learn a thing or two from you.

Wishing you well,

Cheers!